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Playing Master and Servant in “BLACK BUTLER”

Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Hiro Mizushima stars in the titular
role of “Black Butler” produced by Shinzo Matsuhashi about an orphaned
aristocrat exacting revenge who hires the services of a black butler at her aid
costing her soul.

Ayame Gőriki plays the aristocrat
young lady named Shiori Genpo who masquerades as a male in order to get even to
those responsible for her family’s death.
She eventually summons a black butler named Sebastian Michaelis, on the
condition that her soul is already for the taking after the revenge has been
fulfilled. Sebastian Michaelis, a
demonic butler with impeccable knowledge, manners, grace, cooking skills,
martial arts and charming looks.

Adapting the highly successful Manga
series into a movie, directors Kentaro Ohtani and Kei’ichi Sato with writer
Yana Taboso decided to change the setting of the movie to a very near future
fusing the East and West culture, creating a whole new distinctive era. Eventually, most of the characters have also
been rewritten to suit the new setting. The all-original story of the film is
set 130 years after the manga. Hiro who
plays the demonic butler Sebastian returns to the movies for the first time in
three years. The actor faced up to the
challenge in preparing for the role that he even shed 50 kg off his weight to
achieve the closest of resemblance with the character.

The manga debuted in Square Enix's
Monthly G Fantasy magazine in 2006, and its 15 volumes thus far have 14 million
copies in print, including those published in 42 countries and territories. The
manga already inspired a television anime series in 2008 and a stage play in
2009. It received the top prize in the shōnen manga category of France's Japan
Expo Awards in 2010 and the Best International Manga Award in Germany's
Animagic in 2011.

“Black Butler” will open exclusively
in SM Cinemas nationwide on July 23 from Axinite Digicinema.